IS 16333 (Part 3) : 2017


Indian Language Support For Mobile Phone Handsets

BIS launches standard on Indian Language Support for Mobile Phone Handsets’in all 22 Indian official languages. Bureau of Indian Standards has published an Indian Standard, on “Mobile Phone Handsets Indian Language Support for Mobile Phone Handsets Specific Requirements as per IS 16333 (Part 3): 2017.

Mobile phone handset are used by the vast cross section of consumers across all segments of people in the country In recent times, SMS through mobile phones has been increasingly used by the Government as a channel to reach out to the citizens during natural disasters and has been found, many a times, as the only channel working during disasters for safety of individuals. SMS messages and alerts have also become a very powerful medium of conveying information regarding weather and prices to farmers, and in other e-Governance applications, such as education, health and welfare, as part of Digital India.

India being a multilingual country, the need of formulating an Indian standard on the subject was felt so that governments and its citizens are able to communicate in common Indian languages of their choice.

This standard (Part 3) defines the requirements for mobile handset for inputting of text in English, Hindi and at least one additional Indian official language along with facility of Message readability in the phones for all 22 Indian official languages.The standard is set to use the strength of mobile penetration in the country for transmitting the text message to the citizens particularly in hours of disaster management.